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Serving question (pushing the shuttle)

I've never really had any complaints about my serve. Once or twice in my 4 years of playing someone has pointed out I need to watch my waist line but nothing major.

But last week someone who I've played with for ages was sitting out watching a mens doubles I was in. She complained, from the sidelines, that my serve was illegal because I pushed the shuttle at one point rather than hitting it.

It's hard to explain. Essentially I normally drop the shuttle in front of the racket head a fraction of a second before contact - there is a distinct hit - or obvious gap where the shuttle is neither in my hand nor on the string bed.

However occasionally the racket kind of pushes the shuttle over the net - the shuttle is still out of my hand at point of contact between shuttle and string bed though.

I guess it's most dependent upon racket head speed. If I draw the rack head back a further distance there is more of a hit motion but if I don't draw it back far it's more of a push.

She claimed this was illegal. She's confused me because no one has ever said this to me about my serve before. I guess she was claiming I was 'scooping' it or something...

i've often wondered about this too, as fu haifeng also seems to serve like this, but some people say that he has practically no backswing and only appears to be pushing the shuttle when in fact he is hitting it over

Anyone enlighten me at all?

Originally Posted by Cattex

I've never really had any complaints about my serve. Once or twice in my 4 years of playing someone has pointed out I need to watch my waist line but nothing major.

But last week someone who I've played with for ages was sitting out watching a mens doubles I was in. She complained, from the sidelines, that my serve was illegal because I pushed the shuttle at one point rather than hitting it.

It's hard to explain. Essentially I normally drop the shuttle in front of the racket head a fraction of a second before contact - there is a distinct hit - or obvious gap where the shuttle is neither in my hand nor on the string bed.

However occasionally the racket kind of pushes the shuttle over the net - the shuttle is still out of my hand at point of contact between shuttle and string bed though.

I guess it's most dependent upon racket head speed. If I draw the rack head back a further distance there is more of a hit motion but if I don't draw it back far it's more of a push.

She claimed this was illegal. She's confused me because no one has ever said this to me about my serve before. I guess she was claiming I was 'scooping' it or something...

Anyone enlighten me at all?

Thanks!

.
If we define A Push = A shot hit by a racket-head swung at constant velocity (without scooping/carrying the shuttlecock), then it is legal.

I agree with the advice given here. Continuous contact with the racket and/or string bed (scoops and slings) is a fault. A discrete 'hit' is perfectly legal, regardless of how slowly the racket is travelling.

Indeed, minimal backswing is an advantage during serve because the opposition can't pre-judge the serve. Cattex, can you also flick-serve without significantly increasing backswing?

Personally, I've always struggled with accuracy from too short a backswing. Cattex, how far in front of the racket do you hold/drop the shuttle from?

I agree with the advice given here. Continuous contact with the racket and/or string bed (scoops and slings) is a fault. A discrete 'hit' is perfectly legal, regardless of how slowly the racket is travelling.

Indeed, minimal backswing is an advantage during serve because the opposition can't pre-judge the serve. Cattex, can you also flick-serve without significantly increasing backswing?

Personally, I've always struggled with accuracy from too short a backswing. Cattex, how far in front of the racket do you hold/drop the shuttle from?

My flick serve is a little hit and miss. I'm 184cm tall and so can get a good low angle (my bottom rib/waist is at ~116cm). However like you I have to increase my back swing to generate decent power. I can do a wicked flick serve down the T that lands just inside the service box but it's a little too hit and miss. When I execute it I win the point basically - but it goes a bit wild about half the time resulting in either going long, wide or into my opponents hitting zone.

I find a short backswing gives a more accurate short serve but less power for flicks. What I need to work on is using the same back swing for both flicks and short serves which probably means practising getting a consistent swing speed for short serves and moving to a longer swing.

I don't drop the shuttle that far in front on the racket - an inch or so - which can give me timing issues and lead to netted serves or serves that land short of the line. I also drop it from too low a height and sometimes actually hit my own hand! - this is when I don't concentrate enough.

All this means that serves are actually pretty good when I am on it but they can fall apart a bit because I flirt too much with danger as it were.